Talking is a Dangerous Activity
by Faoiltierna
Summary: Kirihara goes to apologize to Inui after Nationals.  Contains spoilers for Nationals Arc and for Shin Prince of Tennis


Talking is a Dangerous Activity

Kirihara peered left and right as he crested the small hill at the park. It was taking longer than he'd expected, tracking down his quarry; he hadn't been in the library, the science lab, the clubhouse, the street courts or the river. Kirihara squashed the thought that perhaps Yanagi-sempai was slipping; no, that just wasn't possible. Obviously the other data player simply had a flexible schedule this time of year.

There, finally, ahead of him, sitting on the ground under a tree, book resting on his bent leg, the heel of the other held about three or so inches off the ground, was the spiky haired, bespectacled, tennis player he had come, reluctantly, to find.

"Hey, Inui!" he called out as he drew near. "I have to...I mean, I would like to talk to you for a minute. You busy?"

The other boy looked up from what he was reading and pushed his glasses to the top of his nose. "Of course. I am studying for the high school entrance exams."

Kirihara sneered at him. "Like that? What are you doing with your leg?"

Inui closed his book on his finger and tugged up the leg of his sweatpants to show an ankle weight. "Strength training. Just because I am studying and the third years have stepped down from the tennis club does not mean I should abandon it. One must constantly improve lest one is left behind, yes?"

The second year scratched his head, frowning. "I...guess? Our third years haven't stepped down yet. Yukimura-buchou says it's too early yet."

"Ah. Well, as Seigaku's buchou left for Germany to turn pro...our priorities are different from Rikkai's," Inui said. He opened his book again and returned to reading it.

Kirihara bristled at the brush off. "Hey! I came here to talk to you!"

"And you did," Inui said, not looking up.

"N..." Kirihara made an aborted movement with his hands, took a deep breath to calm himself and tried again. "Yanagi-sempai suggested that I...come and apologize for my actions during our match in the National Finals."

Inui looked up at that. "There is only a thirty-seven percent chance that your apology is sincere. Why should I accept it? *Are* you sorry for what you did?"

"For baiting Kaidou...no, not really," Kirihara said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was trying to ruin his game so we could win. There is nothing wrong with that! ….however, how I went about it...put you in the hospital. Yanagi-sempai said that if you weren't as tough as you were that I could have caused you permanent damage. He said I got lucky, another player...I could have killed them."

"Ah." Inui lowered his heel to the ground and changed position so he was sitting cross-legged. "Actually, another player would more than likely have forfeited the match long before that point. I have always been more stubborn that is really healthy according to my mother. Plus, I did not want to disappoint my kohei. He was counting on me."

"Yeah," Kirihara said. He brought both hands down to his sides and bowed. "I am very sorry I beat you half to death, Inui-san."

He held that position, eyes on his shoes, until a hand rested on his shoulder. "I accept your apology, Kirihara," Inui said.

Surprised that the other boy had moved without his noticing, Kirihara straightened up, then had to tilt his head back further to look Inui in the face. "Woah, you're even taller than Yanagi-sempai."

A faint smile flickered across the face dominated by black glasses that glinted in the afternoon's light. "Yes, I am."

"Why...why did you accept my apology?" Kirihara asked him. "'cause honestly, I didn't expect you to. Not many people believe that I've really changed."

"You forget? I was at the U-17 camp, as well. I saw the effects of your change first hand." Inui tapped him lightly on the forehead with his knuckle. "The energy and drive inside you found a better outlet than that Devil Mode you used in the Nationals. I approve of this."

"And so you forgive me, just like that?" Kirihara pressed. "I put you in the hospital. You nearly died."

"Though the chances of you being sincere were only thirty-seven percent, I am fully convinced that you are. If you had pretended to regret your actions toward Kaidou, I would not have believed you. According to Renji, and my own data, of course, you have not used the Devil Mode since the U-17 camp," Inui said.

"But you weren't there when I...when Shiraishi-sempai helped me overcome it. You were off with Yanagi-sempai in the Mountain Camp." Kirihara could not help but let a little of his resentment creep into his voice. "He...Yanagi-sempai withdrew so he could go off with you after you got sick and couldn't play."

"That was his choice. Though I admit, I was glad when I saw he had decided to go. I have missed him a great deal," Inui said.

"Huh," Kirihara said. "What if you hadn't gotten sick? Would he have finished crushing me and I would have gone off to the Mountain Camp?"

"Let us just say that my going off to the Mountain Camp was a forgone conclusion," Inui said. "Renji..."

Kirihara cocked his head to the side and peered up at the taller boy. "Wait...if you knew you'd get sick, why did you drink that stuff you made? I don't understand that, letting yourself become a victim of your own juice."

"Ah," Inui said, his glasses glinting, "convenient that, yes? Struck down by my own experiment and sent away, rather than allowing Mizuki a first hand look at my data style."

"O-okay. I understand not wanting another data player to get the scoop on you...but...you chose to go home instead," Kirihara asked, his face scrunched up in confusion.

Another smile flickered over Inui's face. "At no point did I fear being sent home. A secret is only effective if no one knows it. The camp at the top of the mountain has been there for several years."

"So...you decided to go there, rather than play against Mizuki?" Kirihara pressed again. The answers he was getting were not making sense.

Inui shrugged. "Renji was going to be there, so it seemed like a much better plan than staying."

"You didn't know that!" Kirihara paused. "Did you? I've never beaten him before and you couldn't have known he would withdraw like that. Could you?"

"As soon as he picked you as his partner, I knew," Inui told him

"But we all thought we were playing doubles," Kirihara yelled.

Inui cocked his head at this. "All? No. It was obviously a trap. One both Tezuka and Atobe used to their advantage. At first I was a little surprised by Sanada, until I realized that Yukimura meant for him to keep an eye on those sent away."

"I didn't know it was a trap," Kirihara muttered.

"Of course. Not everyone did," Inui said. "Most of the established doubles teams did not, for example. It is a ninety-seven percent probability that that is due to the fact they think as a team rather than as individuals as the singles players do."

Kirihara's eyes went wide. "You think Niou-sempai and Yagyuu-sempai...?"

"I did specify, 'most.' Those that did know it for a trap and played their partner anyway did so primarily for two reasons. One, because if they did not, people would want to know why and that would have caused a great commotion. And two, because players like Niou, Yagyuu, Oshitari, they want to know who is best." Inui smiled faintly again. "It is why Renji and I have only played against one another the one time."

"Uhm...you and Yanagi-sempai have played against each other three times," Kirihara said. "Once when you were little, once at Kantou and again in doubles with me and Kaidou."

"The game at Kantou was merely the conclusion of the previous game," Inui said. "The game at Nationals doesn't count. That was...not a tennis match."

Kirihara gave him a look. "I was there. We were holding rackets and there was a tennis ball. I'm pretty sure that made it a tennis match. There was even a guy keeping score!"

Inui rapped him on the forehead with his knuckle again. "You were trying to beat me to death with that tennis ball in order to provoke Kaidou. That makes it not a tennis match."

"I said I was sorry," Kirihara mumbled, hanging his head.

"Yes. Now you are. You certainly were not then," Inui said.

Kirihara looked back up sharply. "I've grown. Mat...matard..."

"Matured. Yes, you have. It is the only reason I decided to accept your apology rather than spiking your water bottle with something...undetectable." Inui smiled slightly, his glasses catching the light again.

Kirihara shuddered. "And I thought Yanagi-sempai could be creepy."

"Before he was the Master, he was my doubles partner." Inui paused. "I'd tell you stories, but the statute of limitations has not yet run out on most of them."

"You make it sound like you two were like Niou-sempai and Yagyuu-sempai!" Kirihara laughed.

Inui smiled a little wider. "Oh, no. Neither of us were ever Gentlemen."

Kirihara was quiet for a long moment after the shudder finished running down his spine. Perhaps this was the answer to a long standing problem... "Inui-sempai...you're really smart, right? Maybe you could help me with something."

"Flattery gets you my attention. What is your problem," Inui asked.

"I want to play a prank on my sempai-tachi," Kirihara said slowly. "...but it needs to be really clever or Yukimura-buchou will sigh at me and fukabuchou will make me run laps until the end of the term. I know Yanagi-sempai will figure it out, but if I could just catch Niou-sempai and Marui, I'd be happy."

Inui thought for a moment then chuckled, "Fufufu. That is easy. Pull Yukimura aside before practice tomorrow morning and tell him, loud enough the other regulars can hear, that you are worried you won't be able to be captain next year..."

"What?" Kirihara started shaking his head. "No wa..."

"...because you think you're pregnant."

"Wha...?" Kirihara stared, open-mouthed, at Inui. "Wha...how...that...that isn't possible!"

Inui's smile was decidedly sinister. "They still consider you the baby of the team, correct? I am ninety-eight percent certain that means that there is a standing order not to tell you where babies come from."

Kirihara rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well it never stopped Niou-sempai. Fortunately my dad had already told me, or I'd be really confused."

"And I was eight-nine percent certain that had happened, as well." Inui raised his eyebrows. "Just...be, 'upset,' and...don't give out all the details at once. Make them pry them out of you."

"And what are the details supposed to be?" Kirihara wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know. Niou's misinformation aside, the talk his father had with him had left him feeling more than a little grossed out.

"Niou told you, I am almost a hundred percent certain, that pregnancy can occur if you kiss someone."

Kirihara laughed. "You're good," he said.

Inui bowed his head slightly. "At first, they will assume that when you say you've, 'done it,' that means that you had sex. That will cause consternation right there. They will immediately want to know who you had sex with. Look confused, alarmed and maybe throw in a, 'no! I'm not that kind of boy!' and then tell them what Niou told you. At that point there will be the denials and backpedaling of Niou to absolve himself of the blame, which of course he will not be able to do. Saving the best for last, they will just start to feel relieved and explain to you that you cannot possibly be pregnant...when they realize that someone did kiss you."

Kirihara laughed harder. "That's evil, I like it. Except, what if they ask who kissed me? I...they won't believe me if I give them a girl's name, I'm pretty sure. And whoever I do name is going to be in world of hurt when my sempai-tachi get done with them. I can't do that to some innocent guy!"

Inui leaned down and kissed him gently on the lips. "I can handle whatever they throw at me. As long as they give me a chance to explain, I'll tell them it was a kiss of absolution when I accepted your apology. While I doubt Renji will completely buy that, he likes his revenge cold."

Eyes wide open Kirihara stared at him. After a moment, he blinked, then blinked again. "Why...why did you do that?"

"I just explained," Inui said. "Do you need me to go over it again?"

"N...no. That...that was my first kiss," Kirihara said, flushing red and not looking at the taller boy.

Inui's smile was a bit twisted. "It was mine as well. Of course, after your sempai-tachi get through with me, it may have also been my last."


End file.
